Les dahlias du Luxembourg
In mid September 2007 just off the plane in Paris I took a stroll through the gardens of the Palais du Luxembourg. There, multicolored dahlias in full bloom circled the great round lawn. One look and I was in ecstasy, I could not peel myself away from this gorgeous sight, so colorful, so many different dahlias of such varied shapes.
Once home I recorded this most vivid memory on two watercolors. These images would not let me be until I created three different silk acquatint plates and one image on a lithographic stone. I started printing in my fashion, as many color variations I could conjure out of each image changing the mood, altering the image by inking this way and that way. I stopped only when the plates gave up frayed and smashed. The lithographic stone would have given me plenty more but by then dahlias and their many fugue e variazione were gone out of my mind to leave with me only their vivid colors.
I made two series of silk acquatint prints done on Rives BFK paper using Faust water miscible inks and a third on a lithographic stone. Most are now in private collections.
The first series Les dahlias has 25 prints. The next series Les autre dahlias has 15 prints. The lithograph series Shadows has 14 prints and two smaller Half shadows.
